The Donald Gets Palm Beach Tax Break

NAMES & FACES

Donald Trump, who is pleading poverty while asking to subdivide his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, won a $118,000 property tax break when a hearing officer cut the assessment by almost a third.

The property had been assessed at $17.6 million, up from $14.1 million the previous year.

But a hearing officer supported Trump's $12 million value for the 17-acre national landmark Wednesday, concluding that the landmark designation reduced its value by making the property more difficult to alter. Trump wants to subdivide the estate to help him pay his debts.

The county property appraiser's office has 30 days from the time the final tax roll is set around March 1 to appeal the decision in court.